History of the Argentina national football team
The history of the Argentina national football team begins with their first official match, played on 20 July 1902 against Uruguay, a 6–0 win in Paso del Molino, Montevideo.
In 1916, Argentina contested the first tournament organized by CONMEBOL, the South American Championship (the current Copa América) hosted in Buenos Aires and Avellaneda and won by Uruguay.
The attacking line, formed by Oreste Corbatta, Humberto Maschio, Antonio Angelillo, Omar Sívori and Osvaldo Cruz, was widely praised by then, being still remembered by the media and football fans.
The team suffered the absence of Maschio, Angelillo and Sívori (playing in the Italian first division but not called by Stábile for the tournament[18]), who had made outstanding performances in Lima one year before.
In the 1963 South American Championship, Argentina finished third in the tournament, although the team achieved important victories over Brazil (3–0), Ecuador and Colombia, but lost to Bolivia and Peru.
[25] After the frustration of 1969, the Association named Juan José Pizzuti, who had won the Intercontinental Cup with Racing Club three years before, as coach of the national team.
Pizzuti was the manager during three years, in which Argentina played several friendly games against South American teams, which included the 1971 Roca Cup title (shared with Brazil).
After the Independence Cup, Pizzuti was replaced by Omar Sívori, the most notable player of the 1957 Copa América triumph and had previous experience as manager of Rosario Central and Estudiantes de La Plata.
In 1980 there were no official tournaments so the team toured in Europe and also hosted friendly games in some of the most important cities of Argentina such as Mar del Plata, Córdoba and Mendoza.
Argentina played the 1980 Mundialito, a competition hosted by Uruguay in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first World Cup tournament, where the team defeated West Germany and drew with Brazil to be eliminated in the first stage.
[35][36] Other players that formed the squad were Juan Barbas, Gabriel Calderón (from the 1979 youth championship-winning team), Patricio Hernández, Julio Olarticoechea, Enzo Trossero and Jorge Valdano.
The team was formed by footballers playing in domestic Argentine Primera División exclusively, being some of them goalkeepers Ubaldo Fillol and Nery Pumpido, defenders Néstor Clausen, José Luis Brown, Enzo Trossero, Julio Olarticoechea and Roberto Mouzo; midfielders Claudio Marangoni, Jorge Burruchaga, Alejandro Sabella and José Daniel Ponce; forwards Ricardo Gareca, Alberto Márcico.
The line-up in the final was: Nery Pumpido, Brown, José Luis Cuciuffo, Ruggeri, Julio Olarticoechea; Ricardo Giusti, Sergio Batista, Enrique, Burruchaga; Maradona, Valdano.
Some players of the team were Pumpido, Brown, Ruggeri, Clausen, Cuciuffo, Burruchaga, Maradona, Enrique, Giusti (all of them world champions in 1986), Claudio Caniggia, Abel Balbo, Luis Islas, Roberto Sensini, Gabriel Calderón, Néstor Gorosito and Pedro Troglio.
In addition to Valdano not playing, a number of other important players were injured, so Argentina resorted to cynical tactics on the field, as they knew they could not win easily in a straight fight.
With zero goals in extra time, the game went to a penalty shootout where Goycoechea was the hero again, stopping the shots from Aldo Serena and Roberto Donadoni to send Argentina to its second-straight World Cup final.
Germany arrived to the final as a wide favorite to take the Cup, as the squad had showed an effective and precise playing style, unlike Argentina which (with the exception of the game with Italy) had not had good previous performances.
The national team played some friendly matches and tournaments such as the Stanley Rous Cup, where Argentina drew 2–2 with England at Wembley Stadium (after losing 0–2 after the first half).
Apart from Batistuta, Sergio Goycochea, Leonardo Astrada, Claudio Caniggia, Diego Simeone (who wore the number 10 kit shirt), Dario Franco, Leo Rodríguez were some of the most notable Argentine players.
Then, in October, the team won the King Fahd Cup, where they easily defeated Ivory Coast 4–0 in the semi-final and Saudi Arab 3–1 in the final game.
Maradona had returned to active football after being suspended due to the incident with drugs but Basile did not call him for the Cup, so Simeone wore the emblematic number 10 again.
Colombia, with great players such as Carlos Valderrama, Freddy Rincón, Faustino Asprilla and Leonel Álvarez not only won the qualifiers unbeaten, but sent Argentina to play against the representative of Oceania to get a place for the World Cup.
[64] The most important sports magazine of Argentina, El Gráfico, went into "mourning" with a completely black cover with the only legend: "Vergüenza" ("Shame") that expressed the deception and humiliation after the defeat.
A brawl erupted between the Argentines and Germans after the game ended; unused substitute Leandro Cufré was sent off for kicking Per Mertesacker, while Maxi Rodríguez hit Bastian Schweinsteiger from behind.
They then beat the Netherlands 4–2 from a penalty shootout in São Paulo, but lost to eventual winners Germany in the final at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, finishing their campaign as runners-up.
Their quarter-final opponent was Colombia, whose sturdy defense was impossible to break through and goalkeeper David Ospina making impressive saves to keep the game tied at 0–0.
La Albiceleste cruised through their group, with their opening match being a replay of the Copa América final from the year before against trophy holders Chile, which Argentina would go on to win 2–1.
As previously, it was an even match, with Chile initially having the upper hand and more possession before going a man down, with Marcelo Díaz being dismissed after obstructing Messi on the ball.
This, however, made it more difficult for Argentina to break through their defence, and they too would go a man down not long after with Marcos Rojo receiving a straight red card for a tackle on Arturo Vidal.
[80] In the next group match, Argentina suffered a heavy 0–3 loss by Croatia due to "a defence left exposed, a midfield that was overrun and an attack that was blunted", which put them on the brink of elimination and led to unconfirmed reports that Sampaoli would be sacked.
